Evangeline Florence (12 December 1867 – 1 November 1928) was an American-born soprano who built a successful concert career in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

Early life

Born as Florence Angeline Houghton in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, the daughter of Julia Maria ''née'' Rowell (1841-1871) and Henry Houghton (1832-1896), from West Gardiner, Maine who worked as a cooper, she was taught by Edna Hall in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and Amelia Lehmann in London. In March 1888 she appeared as Evangeline Houghton in ''

La sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eu ...

'' in

Boston Music Hall The Boston Music Hall was a concert hall located on Winter Street in Boston, Massachusetts, with an additional entrance on Hamilton Place. One of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States, it was built in 1852 and was the ...

under the direction of Charles R. Adams. In March 1889 aged 21 she was Lady Harriet Durham in Flotow's ''

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness ...

'' at the Odd Fellows' Hall at Winter Hill in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area o ...

. In November 1890 Houghton took part in the 12th annual festival of the South Eastern Massachusetts Musical Association, directed by

Carl Zerrahn Carl Zerrahn (28 July 1826 Malchow, Mecklenburg-Schwerin – 29 December 1909 Milton, Massachusetts) was a German-born American flautist and conductor. His widespread activity in the region made him an influential figure in New England and Boston ...

. In November 1890 ‘Miss Evangeline Houghton, Assisted by Her Three Brothers, Vocalists, and Orchestra of Six Pieces’ sang at Piedmont Church.

Kurt Gänzl Kurt-Friedrich Gänzl (born 15 February 1946) is a New Zealand writer, historian and former casting director and singer best known for his books about musical theatre. After a decade-long playwriting, acting and singing career, and a second ca ...

"An American A in altissimo: Evangeline Florence "
''Kurt of Gerolstein'', 22 January 2020

Move to London

On arriving in Great Britain she dropped her surname to prevent confusion with another singer of the same name in London at that time. Florence studied in London with

George Henschel Sir Isidor George Henschel (18 February 185010 September 1934) was a German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer. His first wife Lillian was also a singer. He was the first conductor of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra ...

, Blume,

Alberto Randegger Alberto Randegger (13 April 1832 – 18 December 1911) was an Italian-born composer, conductor and singing teacher, best known for promoting opera and new works of British music in England during the Victorian era and for his widely used textbook o ...

and Amelia Lehmann.Evangeline Florence - Grande Musica database
/ref> She made her London concert début at

St James's Hall St. James's Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones, who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace. It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly, ...

on 11 May 1892. In the reviews the critics were appreciative of her high notes, recording: ‘the reports concerning the phenomenal compass of her voice proved to be in no way exaggerated. Whether this young lady’s highest notes are absolutely pleasant to listen to is another matter. For our own part, we prefer her singing when she remains within the limits of reasonable compass. All the rest savours too much of claptrap. Her voice is very pleasant in quality and she possesses great ease of execution’. Another wrote ‘In the cadenza of Alyabyev’s ' The Nightingale' she proved that she possessed a voice of extreme compass. Otherwise there is nothing remarkable about her voice’. Also in 1892 she sang 'Elsa's Dream' at

Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting v ...

's London Symphony Concerts, and in 1893 she appeared in Parry's oratorio ''Job'', given by the Highbury Society and at the Popular concerts, the London Ballad concerts and the Crystal Palace concerts. Variously she was billed as ‘the sensational American soprano’, ‘the new high soprano’, and as ‘the Eiffel soprano’. In 1894 Florence sang at the Hereford Festival, while in 1895 she made a 30-concert tour through Australia and toured Europe during late 1898 and early 1899. In 1896 and 1898 she sang in the

Promenade Concert Promenade concerts were musical performances in the 18th and 19th century pleasure gardens of London, where the audience would stroll about while listening to the music. The term derives from the French ''se promener'', "to walk". Today, the te ...

under the baton of

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

while in 1897 and 1900 she was at the Birmingham Festival and appeared frequently with the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...

and Royal Choral Society. In February 1898 she put on her own concert at

in which she sang Mozart and Brahms, among others. In 1902 she appeared again at

The Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

. For many years she was the principal soprano at Boosey's London Ballad Concerts. Swiss Girl’s Lament 1902

While in London she gained a solid reputation as a concert soprano, a genre she cultivated almost exclusively until her retirement. The extent of her voice was extraordinary, exceeding three or four notes in the treble register of the celebrated

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her la ...

. In 1902 her husband Alexander Crerar provided the English words (the original lyrics were by Gustav Hölzel) to the song 'The Swiss Girl's Lament' to music by 'A. L.'. Published as sheet music it was sung by Florence. In 1910 she sang the soprano part in '' Handel's Allegro'' at the

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy P ...

in London. By 1916 her concert career was diminishing and she turned to teaching voice and recorded several records; however, in that year she appeared with Thomas Harrison Frewin’s Opera Company in ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

'' and ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had co ...

''.

Personal life

On 17 October 1894 she married Scottish commission merchant Alexander Crerar (1856-1926) in

. By 1901 the couple were living at 59 Wynnstay Gardens in Kensington; while in 1911 they were living at 29 Kensington Park Gardens in Kensington in London; this was to be her home for the rest of her life.Estate of Mrs. Evangeline Florence Crerar - professionally known as "Evangeline Florence" Deceased
- ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

'' 10 September 1929 pg. 5883 Evangeline Florence Crerar died in Kensington in London in 1928. In her will she left £561 2s 9d,England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Evangeline Florence Crerar - Ancestry.com
/ref> approximately .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Florence, Evangeline 1867 births 1928 deaths Musicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts American operatic sopranos People from Kensington Singers from Massachusetts Classical musicians from Massachusetts 19th-century American women opera singers 20th-century British women opera singers American emigrants to the United Kingdom